Saskatchewan Premier Challenged to Come Clean on Dirty Oil

Toronto, Ontario – Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, on a tour of Washington, D.C. today, is being challenged by Environmental Defence to be up front about the environmental impacts of tar sands development in his province. “Acid rain from the tar sands is already damaging lakes and rivers in Saskatchewan,” said Matt Price, Project Manager with Environmental Defence. “We hope Premier Wall will not gloss over the impact of this destructive development.”

Environmental Defence recently released a report, Canada’s Toxic Tar Sands: The Most Destructive Project on Earth, that cited Saskatchewan Government studies showing a build up of nitrogen along the northwestern Saskatchewan border with Alberta and a significant drop in Ph (measuring acid) at monitoring stations downwind from the tar sands.

Other salient facts include:

Producing tar sands oil emits three times as much greenhouse gas per barrel as regular oil.

There is currently no policy in place at the provincial or federal levels that require the tar sands industry to capture and sequester carbon, so emissions are exploding.

Tar sands production either uses massive strip mines and toxic tailings ponds or underground methods that need even more energy and heavily scar the landscape.

Most of these problems have been created by the reckless pace of tar sands development in Alberta. Neighbouring Saskatchewan is at an earlier stage of tar sands development, and has the opportunity to act more responsibly. “The dirty secret of the tar sands is now out of the bag in America and around the world,” said Price. “What people want to hear now is how we are going to clean it up, not more denials and excuses.” Canada’s Toxic Tar Sands: The Most Destructive Project on Earth is available to download for free on the Environmental Defence web site – www.environmentaldefence.ca. About Environmental Defence (www.environmentaldefence.ca): Environmental Defence protects the environment and human health. We research solutions. We educate. We go to court when we have to. All in order to ensure clean air, clean water and thriving ecosystems nationwide, and to bring a halt to Canada’s contribution to climate change. – 30 –